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Truly and fully annoyed, I bring my loudly-ringing phone out of my pocket and glare at it.

"Dammit..." I mutter under my breath.
"Who's calling?" Charlotte asks.

Aaaaand it's Irene. Which means that it -may- be something important.


>might as well put it on speakerphone
>personal call onry

>>47158918
>might as well put it on speakerphone
>personal call onry

>implying charlotte couldn't hear anyway and there's a difference

>>47158918
>personal call onry
Charlotte is already on edge as it is and hearing Irene's voice wont likely improve that, assuming she can't hear the phone conversation to begin with.

>personal call onry

Don't kick the hornet's nest.

>>47158918
>personal call onry

super-hearing in a tight space, as people have already said. If it's anything super important she'd have heard it and if she can tell it's Irene and it's just a check-up Char can probably accept that we're trying to not upset her.

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>writing

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"It's Irene," I say to Charlotte as I answer the phone.
"Ugh," Charlotte replies, smacking her teeth. "Of course it would have to be HER."

With Charlotte's hearing being what it is, she'd probably be able to hear my phone conversation regardless of whether or not I put it on speakerphone... but at the same time, putting her on speakerphone would be like an open invitation for Charlotte to do her usual "super jealous" thing.

...yeah, I'll just keep it as a "private" call. Even if Charlotte does decide to eavesdrop, at least that's all it'll be.

Probably.


>[1/?]

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>>47160125
>[2/2]

"Hello?" Irene calls out. "Cecile, are you there?"
"Yeah, right here," I reply. "What's up?"
"Sorry for the sudden call, but a lot's happened over the past day, what with Theresa and Faceless and you and your father and everything else..."


>what's this about theresa?
>what's this about faceless?
>what's this about my father?
>[OTHER]

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>>47160320
>>what's this about my father?
Fuck me, he knows.

>>47160320
>what's this about my father?

Most pressing

>>47160320
>>what's this about my father?

>>47160340
Doubt it. He probably found some trouble though.

>>47160320
>>what's this about theresa?
>>what's this about faceless?
>>what's this about my father?
>>[OTHER]

>>47160320
>[OTHER]

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>writing

>>47160504
Attention, archelon.

I have made a post on /tg/.

It is the post you are reading now.

That's awesome!

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"W- wait a minute," I blurt out, "what's this about my father?"

Please please PLEASE don't let it be that he learned about Branches or got himself caught up in all this crap that I'm mired in... or both...

"Ah-" Irene clears her throat. "Well, umm... he's been kind of manic today?"
"Manic?" I repeat.
"Yeah, he's been scouring the internet for information on Faceless all day, as well as being on and off the phone with that friend of his who gave him that information yesterday."
"So he's not in trouble or anything, right?" I ask.
"No," she replies, "but you're mother's at wit's end with him right now. She even interrogated me after you father asked me to clarify something for him..." she sighs.

Oh. Wow. It's not as bad as I was expecting (thank God), but it's still pretty damned far from anything that can be considered "good."


>[1/?]

>>47161079
>[2/2]

"That's actually the main reason why I called," Irene says.

And suddenly that knot in my stomach is back.

"I'm not over there right now," Irene says, "but your father just sent me a picture of what definitely -looks- like one of Faceless's calling cards."


>how do I respond?

>>47161185
"What's it say?"

If we recognize the wording that means someone's been spreading pictures of the cards and we have a problem.

If we don't, we have another clue Faceless spat at us and can see how much he's dug into our scheme.

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>>47160722
What wonderment.


>writing

Just me & you eh?
I'll probably be up for the next prompt. Hopefully the Europeans can pick up where I leave off.

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The instant that Irene says that, I feel Charlotte's entire body begin to shudder. There goes any doubt as to whether or not she's listening in on this call, at least...

"What does it say?" I ask. "It doesn't mention-"
"What you and Theresa were up to last night?" Irene interjects. "No, thank the Lord."

...and there goes any hopes I may have had of keeping Irene from knowing about that particular outing.

"It's another 'notice of intent,' or whatever he calls it," Irene says. "How about I just send you the image so you can see it for yourself and then I call right back?"
"Makes sense," I nod.

We then say our temporary goodbyes and I wait patiently for-

BZZT BZZT BZZZT BZZZT

"That was quick."


>[1/?]

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>>47161687

With Charlotte practically on top of me (and not in the good way), I fumble around with my phone and pull up the image Irene sent as quickly as I can. And sure enough, it's indeed another card with the exact same type and printed font as what he left in my room.

"Bonsoir," the card reads, "it is to my understanding that you were one of many who took delight in mon échec humiliant last night. And while I am well used to such taunts, yours in particular were so loud that my ear has been caught."

Charlotte tilts my phone so that she can get a better look.

"Who was this sent to?" she asks.
"I have no idea," I reply.


>[2/?]

>>47161873
Dis Gon be good

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>>47161873
It's an old meme, but it checks out.

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>>47161873
>[3/3]

I continue reading the card.

"You, who have taken such great enjoyment from another's misfortune, shall be met with misfortune of your own," it says. "It will not be tonight, as I have prior arrangements. Mais demain soir, I will come for all you hold dear. You shall lose everything in the blink of an eye. I will not be stopped."

And just as I'm finishing up reading it for the third time, Irene calls back.


>what do I say to her?

>>47162096
It sounds like it's been directed at whoever sent out the news message. The implication that they knew about it last night meant that he's not talking about the news station.

Likely the same dude, just at his places of residence?

Unless he's making an uncalled hit we should be OK for now, although that is a possibility. That "lose everything" is concerning because he calls what he takes, so that could mean he wants blood.

>"The CEO dude of the Company?"

>>47162096
>>what do I say to her?
First she should ask where he found the card. Should be better than speculation.

Then we finish this date.

Then CC and C should go talk to him and try to convince him not to put the family even more at risk.

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I found a super-secret picture of our QM.

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>writing

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Oh, here's a thing I found while looking for the image in my other post. Interesting to look at in retrospect.

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"Hey Irene," I say, "I got the image."
"Great, so it did go through," Irene says with a sigh of relief. "Did you read it?"
"Yeah," I nod. "But who'd he send the card to in the first place?" I ask. "The message sounds like it was directed at whoever made the announcement to the news, but..."

Maybe he's threatening to hit the guy's house this time?

"No, it's not that," Irene replies. "According to your father, it was sent to a multimillionaire over in Ohio, of all places."
"...what?"

Me and Charlotte glance at each other in confusion.

"But that's nowhere near here," I say.
"I know," Irene replies, "but that's what happened. I don't even know HOW your father was able to find out about this stuff before even the Tree of Life..." she groans. "I'm actually on the way back to your house right now and hopefully I'll be able to intercept him before he ends up learning about Branches themselves, but the fact that he's been able to dig up as much as he already has is worrisome enough."


>maybe I should meet up with you there
>I will allow nothing to end my date prematurely
>[OTHER]

>>47162660
>I will allow nothing to end my date prematurely

We promised. That said, maybe we should talk to our dad ourselves and go ahead and tell him, since he's clearly not giving up that easily.

>>47162660
This ferris wheel was the end of the date, right?

>Ask Irene to hold the fort until we come home.
>Finally talk to parents about accidental gaining of superpowers and how dangerous they can be.

>>47162660
>>maybe I should meet up with you there

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>writing

>>47162660
>maybe I should meet up with you there

>>47162096
And we are BACK ON CANON. Albeit with some of the names swapped.

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>>47163000

>>47162660
Ohio? Eh?

Well it's good that the attack was mi

>It will not be tonight, as I have prior arrangements

Charlotte + Gabby are his prior arrangements. We're under attack tonight, lads! IDS HABBEDNIZD

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Damn it.

God damn it.

We've been having a mostly good time here and I wanted to make the best of it and then have Charlotte put on an apron and cook for me when we got back to the hotel. I was REALLY looking forward to that.

But I can't just ignore what Irene said or file it in the back of my head for later worrying about.

"Charlotte...?"

Expecting the worst, I turn to my lovely girlfriend.

"It was fun while it lasted," Charlotte replies.


>[1/?]

>>47163016
Given that we're on the Charlotte route rather than the Mina one, Gauthier is our ally. Ordinarily he'd be sending Charlotte as part of the attack tonight, but it looks like the Qliphoth is taking that role.

In Canon, Gauthier gets Gabby to come back to his place for protection rather than leaving her in the city. I'm actually not sure if that happens in this route, but it wouldn't surprise me.

Next up is the Tree of Life investigating all the branch violence in the city. CC ends up spilling spaghetti + tons of relevant details to IrenePrime (called Katrine here) after mistaking her for Irene, and that pretty much kicks off the conflict.

I should note that Sun-Mi is an OC by Archelon, she doesn't appear in canon, and was probably created to be Mina's romantic partner now that CC isn't.

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>>47163088

>>47163091
I wonder if Mina's overgrowth will still happen.

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>>47163060
>[2/2]


"I guess I should meet up with you at my house," I say, lifting my phone back up to my ear. "We should be there in like twenty-ish minutes."
"That's about as long as it'll take me to get back too," Irene replies. "If I beat you there, I'll try and figure out the extent of what your father knows and hopefully stop him from getting in over his head."
"Thanks," I nod.

This whole thing is stupid enough without getting my parents involved too.


>phone call end
>before I hang up, I wanted to talk to Irene about ________

>>47163145
>>before I hang up, I wanted to talk to Irene about ________
Thanks for looking out for us.

Then let’s go!

>>47163145
Disregarding that, Faceless claiming he has prior arrangements for Tonight means he's hitting up the gauthier sisters tonight.

My plot senses are tingling that if we go to CC's house, Faceless will make his move on Gabby, and that'll make Charlotte get REALLY salty, thinking she was "wasting her time with that bitch Irene" rather than protecting her pets and her family.

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>>47163134

>>47163167
Rumia go away. There aren't any "Powers of darkness" enemies in this quest, even though they'd make a great foil and hardcounter to CC and force her to rely on whatever friend(s) she's managed to preserve over the course of the adventure.

There is, however, a Sakuya clone.

>>47163145

>phone call end

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>writing

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"Thanks for looking out for us," I say to Irene.
"It's the least I can do," Irene replies. "You know, seeing as how you're letting me live in your house and all."

The ferris wheel brings us back to the ground just as I'm hanging up my phone. We hurry outside and start backtracking our way down the main cobblestone path that all of the park's attractions are located on...

...and Charlotte has her eyes to the sky pretty much the entire time.

"Is something the matter?" I ask, tapping her on her shoulder.
"Mmm..." Charlotte furrows her brow. "What time is it?"
"It's like two," I reply. "Why?"
"So we have about six hours," she mutters under her breath. "...I guess that's workable."

It's like all the work I put into taking her mind off Faceless's threats was thrown right out the window. Charlotte's right back in her slow-burning panic mode, and her hair's even sticking up more than usual.


>the best way to deal with this is to take care of what's worrying her asap
>the best way to deal with this is to distract her with something

>>47163522
>the best way to deal with this is to take care of what's worrying her asap

>>47163522
>>the best way to deal with this is to take care of what's worrying her asap
First a kiss and telling her that we have plenty of time. This is not anything we need to be wary over right now.

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>writing

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"Charlotte!"

Dammit her pace is picking up and I am in no way fast enough to keep up with her without breaking into a jog.

"Seriously, wait up!"

Before she gets too far away, I reach out and grab her hand. Thankfully, that seems to be enough for her to actually, you know, STOP.

"Cecile, we don't have time to-"
"It's okay," I say, my breathing ragged from that sudden exertion. "You said it yourself, remember? We have at least six hours of leeway so you don't need to be panicking."

And then I take her other hand, lean in, and plant one right on her lips.

"Wh- why did you-" Charlotte's face instantly goes beet-red.
"Losing your cool won't help anything," I say.

I lean in for another kiss, this time staying in longer before I finally pull away.

"Did that help calm you down some?" I ask, smiling at her.
"In what would do you think that doing something like that in public like this would make me -less- nervous?" Charlotte replies with a pout that's so cute I'm tempted to kiss her a third time.

But then I look around and realize that now there are more than a few people staring at us.

...oh yeah. PDA. Dammit.


>[1/?]

>>47163804
Is that gif from samflam?

>>47163804
>[2/2]

And now that BOTH of us are super embarrassed, we hurry to the nearest exit and head on outside. Fortunately, this area is fairly popular so we barely have to wait a minute before a taxi shows up.


>onwards to my house!
>planning stuff along the way

>>47163894
>>onwards to my house!

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>>47163894
>>planning stuff along the way
Faceless is probably going to try to gank Charrlotte and Gabbers.

This is probably a decent enough point to end for the night. Sorry for the slower posting than usual, I've been pretty distracted.

The next thread will likely be on Tuesday night, assuming there is one.


and now questions

>>47164022
Thank you for writing.

>>47164022
>Sorry for the slower posting than usual,
Arch you made 2 posts in the same hour once.

That's really fast (for a turtle)

>>47163910
Having actually played through Alice's chapter in Fate/Extra now, I find that picture to be a lot more depressing.

>>47164129
>Arch you made 2 posts in the same hour once.
>That's really fast (for a turtle)
I am wounded.


And now I sleep. Thanks for playing!

For further questioning:
http://maouzenigame.tumblr.com/

Game production blog:
https://studioarchelon.wordpress.com/

>>47164022
>Tuesday night, assuming there is one.
I'm pretty sure there'll be a tuesday night, unless a glitch in the matrix drops tomorrow off the calendar and we proceed to wednesday instead.